Confirming rumors that have swirled for weeks, Seawall Development announced it has a contract to purchase two Potts & Callahan properties on Falls Road – one of which had been targeted by Baltimore officials as a new location for the city’s Sisson Street trash facility.

The developer broke the news last night on the Greater Remington Improvement Association (GRIA) Facebook page, describing its “eventual purchase” of 2801 and 2701 Falls Road as a kind of civic service.

“Seawall is working to ensure the community-led efforts to protect the Jones Falls Valley from industrial uses are realized,” the posted press release said. “This purchase represents a commitment to the community from Seawall to never use this site as a trash transfer facility and for this site to be re-imagined and match the ambitions of city residents.”

The deal also represents an opportunity for the company to rescue its reputation after it was confirmed to be the driving force behind the plan to move the popular trash facility to a property that fronts on the Jones Falls. Seawall has had a longstanding desire to acquire 2840 Sisson Street for a mixed-use development.

Seawall partner Thibault Manekin was at the August meeting where the Brandon Scott administration unveiled plans to relocate the municipal facility down the hill to the Jones Falls floodplain, briefly mentioning unspecified “economic development” opportunities.

After public outrage killed the idea of a putting an operation with garbage, recycling and household hazardous waste near the waterway and Jones Falls Trail, the developer began talks with the Potts & Callahan owner, the company’s news release said.

Another aspect of the transaction, which has not, as of this morning, been recorded in city land records:

It would potentially give the company control of a huge swath of land stretching from Remington, where it developed the R. House food hall and other upscale projects, down to the Jones Falls waterway.

For years, this onetime corridor of mills and railroad operations – and today more a habitat for herons and frogs – has been dreamed of by many as an environmentally protected and publicly accessible green space. It has also been challenged by trash dumping, including, currently, on a city-owned maintenance yard.

Closing Down Sisson

As for the Sisson trash facility, formally known as the Northwest Citizens Convenience Center, that hasn’t fallen into Seawall’s hand yet, but that last puzzle piece appears poised to drop into place for the developer.

After weeks of meetings and public hearings to discuss whether to recommend leaving the Sisson facility where it is, moving it to a new location or closing it altogether, a task force set up by Scott came out with a draft report that suggests which way the wind is blowing.

• Despite Sisson Street’s popularity, DPW is angling to close it (1/13/26)

[A vote is expected, and no public testimony is to be taken, at the task force’s meeting tomorrow, at 10 a.m. at City Hall.]

The 14-page report generally finds fault with all of the alternate locations for the drop-off facility, and further describes shortcomings of the current location, as characterized by top Department of Public Works officials who participated in the process.

Acknowledging that Sisson is the most popular and well-used of all city drop-off centers, the report lays out criteria for eventually closing it and redirecting the public to the Reedbird facility in Southwest Baltimore and Bowley’s Lane facility in East Baltimore.

“Bowley’s Lane and Reedbird must be open and operational before Sisson closes,” the report advises, noting that Reedbird, located at 701 Cherry Hill Avenue, closed for repairs last year.

Acknowledging also that Reedbird “is located directly across the street from residential properties,” the task force report asked for strategies, when reopening it, “to make the site more appealing, including streetscaping, murals and “anything that improves the view.”

Remington Community Pressure

Remington residents, meanwhile, turned out in force at a task force public hearing last month to say they do not like the view presented by their local “dump,” as the current Sisson facility, located on the western side of the increasingly trendy community, is sometimes called.

“A dump should not be the anchor tenant at the gateway to our community,” said Jeff Baum, a small business owner and real estate investor in Remington.

GRIA has had the acquisition of the Sisson site for development as part of its plan for years.

A previous task force hearing included many enthusiastic fans of the trash facility, who praised its helpful staff and convenient central location, comparing that to the long lines at the Northwest Transfer Station on Reisterstown Road.

By far the more recent public testimony, at the last task force hearing, was dominated by local residents and other speakers who portrayed that thinking as selfish.

“The people of Remington shouldn’t have to sacrifice their hopes and dreams just to save me from driving an extra 10 minutes to deal with normal adult responsibilities,” said Mt. Washington resident Brad Rogers, a real estate consultant who is executive director of the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership.

Pushing back was city resident Melissa Campanella, who argued that closing Sisson would impact the neighborhoods where residents would then have to go to bring their bulk trash and recyclables – all located in the so-called Black Butterfly.

“You should think how redirecting trash to the existing sites would also increase the burden on Black residents,” she said. “Additional thought needs to be put in from a racial justice perspective.”